Nutrition Diva :: Inside the Arts

What should I eat on audition days?

Dear Nutrition Diva,

What’s the best nutrition for an audition day, and what should I bring with me if I may have to perform several times during the day?

Thanks,
Hopeful

Dear Hopeful,

Just seeing the word “audition” is enough to give me a stomach ache.  My aversion to auditioning is so great, I actually launched a second career as a nutritionist to get out of it! But your question shows that you have exactly the right attitude to be successful: Proper planning and preparation will allow you to play your very best at your auditions.

Here are my tips for you:

1. The night before an audition, limit your alcohol intake to one drink, or don’t drink at all.

2. Timing is everything.  You don’t want to be hungry as you walk into play but you don’t want to be digesting a full meal, either.  If it’s going to be more than two hours before you play, have a medium-sized meal that includes some protein.

If you’re playing in the morning, for example, don’t eat an English muffin and run out the door. All-carb breakfasts (like muffins, bagels, Poptarts, and so on) will tend to leave you feeling hungry and sleepy  an hour or two later. So be sure to include a hard-boiled egg, some yogurt, milk, or peanut butter on your toast.

If your audition is in the afternoon, have a salad with some meat or cheese on it, a bowl of hearty soup, or a couple of maki for lunch. You want a light meal but one with a little staying power.

3. Give yourself a quick boost of energy 30 minutes before your audition by having a piece of fruit such as an apple or banana.  Personally, I find it very soothing to eat apples before an audition because the pH of apples naturally counter-acts a dry mouth. Core and slice an apple and put it in a zip-lock bag so you can eat it without mussing your lipstick.

4. To sustain yourself through a day of multiple auditions when there won’t be time for actual meals, take a dried fruit-and-nut trail mix.  A handful or two can take the place of a small meal.

5. Avoid candy and soda.  Sugar and caffeine can add to already jangled nerves.

6. Play like the goddess you are and best of luck!!

Vitamin D for auditions?

Dear Nutrition Diva,

One of my friends takes vitamin D-3 during his audition preparation. I was wondering what that might actually do?

H.

Dear H.,

Good question!  To tell you the truth, I can’t see  why vitamin D would be particularly helpful in preparing for auditions. But I still think your friend is smart to take it.  Vitamin D is actually the darling of nutrition party circuit these days.  Turns out, it’s good for a lot more than just strengthening bones.  We now see vitamin D as a key nutrient in preventing everything from diabetes to cancer.

In fact, it’s stock has gone up so far (and how many things can you say that about these days?) that the American Academy of Pediatricians today doubled the recommended intake for children and adolescents from 200IU to 400IU.  The official government recommendation for grown-ups is still 400IU per day, but many experts are now recommending that adults get 800 to 1000IU per day.

You see, not only are the consequences of inadequate vitamin D a lot greater than we thought, but it’s increasingly clear that virtually all of us are woefully deficient, especially in the winter time.  The biggest source of vitamin D for most people is milk. This is ironic because milk doesn’t actually contain vitamin D naturally.  The government mandates that milk be fortified with vitamin D in order to be sure that we get enough. But their plan doesn’t seem to be working.

For one thing, we drink less milk than we used to (and that goes double for kids) and for another, it turns out that it takes a LOT of dietary vitamin D to raise your blood levels, and that’s what ultimately counts.

To get more vitamin D, take your clothes off

The best way to stock up on vitamin D is to expose your skin to direct sunlight for several minutes a day. (That’s how the human body was designed to get its vitamin D needs met.) But we all spend a lot less time in the sun, usually with clothes covering most of our bodies and sunscreen covering the rest. So the most practical way to make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D is to take a supplement.  And your friend is correct, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the one you want.

With all of that said, I still don’t know what vitamin D would do specifically to help with audition preparation, but I have to admit, I’m curious.  Is there any chance your friend is taking beta-blockers for auditions. (Yeah, right. is there any chance he ISN’T?)

Both vitamin D and beta-blockers are involved with heart function (specifically blood pressure) although through different channels. I wonder if there’s some lore out there about using vitamin D with beta-blockers. Ask your friend to email me more details!

For more on the health benefits of vitamin D: http://vitamindhealth.org

Does eating late at night make you fat?

Dear Nutrition Diva,

I’ve heard that eating right before you go to bed will cause all of the calories to be stored as fat instead of being burned.  With my schedule, I often end up eating very late–like after rehearsals–and then going more or less straight to bed.  Is this habit going to make me gain weight?

Late-night nosher

Dear LNN,

I’m in the same boat. I don’t want to sing on a full-stomach but then I’m starving when the performance or rehearsal is over. When I’m involved in a production, I often end up eating dinner after ten pm.  Pigging out after rehearsals can definitely make you fat, but it has little to do with timing.

Somehow people have this idea that if they are more active after eating a meal they will somehow “burn up” the calories they just ate–and that if they lie down after eating, the meal will be converted directly to fat.  But think about this for a sec.  If you get up from the dinner table and take a walk, you will be burning calories–but very few will be from the meal you just ate. Most of that meal is still in your stomach being digested and hasn’t been converted to energy yet.

It is true that your hormones have daily and nightly cycles and that your metabolism works slightly differently depending on the time of day/night and how long its been since you had a meal.  But these subtle effects have been VASTLY over-estimated and transformed into a number of crack-pot diet myths.  The number one factor in whether or not you store fat in your body is how many calories you take in (i.e., how much you eat) versus how many calories you burn (i.e., how active you are).  The timing plays a relatively minor role.

That said, late-night eating does often lead to extra poundage. But it’s not because of the time of day. It’s because eating late at night is likely to involve alcohol and socializing…two factors that often lead us to over-eat.  So, you’ve got to be smart about it. When you know you’re going to be eating late, budget your calories accordingly through the day. (No fair eating one dinner at 6pm and ANOTHER at 11pm).

Keep in mind, too, that heavy, greasy meals and lots of alcohol right before bed are not a recipe for restful sleep–and can kick up reflux or GERD symptoms, if you’re susceptible.  But as long as your overall calorie intake is in line with your needs, eating a light meal and a beer or glass of wine to wind down after a rehearsal or performance should be fine.

(Want to know how many calories you can afford to eat each day?  Use this nifty calculator.)